Resources for Students
- Digital Citizenship Brochure: This brochure was created for students and includes the definition of digital citizenship, provides students with knowledge regarding acceptable use of technology, and what students should avoid, password protection tips, and how to respond if being cyber-bullied.
- 10 Important Password Tips Everyone Should Know: (http://www.coolcatteacher.com/password-tips/ ) Some tips include not writing it down and putting it near your computer, use a passphrase with various combinations of upper, lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols, don’t create obvious passwords like password, never save your password in your web browser, and using multiple passwords to name a few.
- Digital Citizenship and You: ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VnAU2lbf2c) This informational video by Grom Social teaches students about digital footprints and the importance of thinking twice about what gets posted online. Suggestions related to how to remain safe online are also provided. Topics such as cyberbullying and what to do if someone is being cyberbullied is also provided. The acronym of THINK is also used to promote digital citizenship.
- 9 Themes of Digital Citizenship: (http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/Nine_Elements.html)This webpage outlines and describes the 9 fundamental themes of digital citizenship These themes include Digital Access (ensuring equal access to digital technology), Digital Commerce (Learn how to purchase items safely and know what items are legal and illegal to purchase), Digital Communication (know how to communicate appropriately), Digital Literacy (learn how to use technology effectively), Digital Etiquette (use appropriate behavior at all times), Digital Law (know how to avoid copyright infringement, plagiarism, identity theft, hacking, and illegal downloading), Digital Rights and Responsibilities (know everyone’s basic digital rights), Digital Health and Wellness (know how to use technology safely – eye safety, posture, take periodic breaks), and Digital Security (be safe, backup data, use virus protection). Three main tenants are also explored including respecting yourself and others, education yourself and connect with others, and protect yourself and protect others.
- Tech Thought-The Definition of Digital Citizenship:(http://www.teachthought.com/the-future-of-learning/digital-citizenship-the-future-of-learning/the-definition-of-digital-citzenship/) This website walks you through the development of the definition of digital citizenship utilizing the root words. It also contains an informative Digital Citizenship Infographic developed by Mia Mac Meeking
- Sameer Hinduja and Justin Patchik - Responding to Cyberbullying:(http://cyberbullying.org/Top-Ten-Tips-Teens-Response.pdf) This article provides the top 10 tips to teens regarding what they should do in the event that they or someone they know is a victim to cyberbullying. Tips including telling someone, telling the perpetrator to stop, saving evidence, refraining from retaliation, ignore them, or call the police if you feel as though are in immediate dangers are presented.
Resources for Educators and Parents
- What Your Students Really Need to Know about Digital Citizenship by Vicki Davis (https://www.edutopia.org/blog/digital-citizenship-need-to-know-vicki-davis) This article written by Vicki Davis called What Your Students Really Need to Know about Digital Citizenship focuses on what she calls the “9 Key Ps of Digital Citizenship”. The 9 Ps include Passwords, Privacy, Personal Information, Photographs, Property, Permission, Protection, Professionalism, and Personal Brand.
- Digital Citizenship Week: 6 Resources for Educators by Matt Davis (https://www.edutopia.org/blog/digital-citizenship-resources-matt-davis) This article outlines and provides links to 6 resources for educators to use to teach their students about appropriate, responsible, and safe use of technology. These resources include Digitial Literacy and Citizenship curriculum provided by Common Sense Media, Lessons for Teaching Digital Citizenshi from Cable Impacts InCtrl series, Digital Literacy and Citizenship Curriculum from iKeepSafe and Google which is geared to middle and high school students, resources from Digizen, Digital Citizenship videos from the teaching channel, as well as a teacher’s guide to digical citizenship created by Edudemic. All of these resources provide great tools for educators to find lessons and information to support student learning of digital citizenship.
- iKeepSafe:(http://ikeepsafe.org/educators_old/more/google/)This website contains teacher professional development materials relating to digital citizenship as well as complete digital citizenship curriculums for students both at the elementary and middle and high school levels including the Google Digital Literacy and Digital Citizenship Curriculum. The Google Curriculum contains videos, handouts, and lesson plans to teach students how to detect lies online, staying safe online, and how to avoid online scams. Learning toolkits are also available for students as well as information on copyright and ethical use of online resources. It also contains an excellent number of resources for parents such as suggestions as to how they can keep their children safe online, how to advise them on how to use technology appropriately, how to balance technology and other aspects of life, as well as a link to the ikeepsafe app for parents.
- 9 Resources for Teaching Digital Citizenship: (https://www.iste.org/explore/articleDetail?articleid=242)This article written by Nicole Kruger explains the importance of teaching students how to be good digital citizens. The author provides 9 resources that educators could utilize within their curriculum in order to promote discussion about digital citizenship. Some resources include Citizenship in the Digital Age Infographic, A video related to the top three challenges of teaching digital citizenship by LeeAnn Lindsey, Digital Citizenship curriculum from Common Sense Media, Three Strategies to Prevent Cyberbullying through teaching empathy skills, as well as a Think Before You Post rap video link that provides 10 tips to students about what items are appropriate to post and what is not.
- Common Sense Media: (https://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators) Common sense media provides teachers and students resources related to digital citizenship. Professional development activities are provided for teachers to learn how to promote digital citizenship and encourage appropriate use of technology. Curriculum training modules, webinars, lessons in action, and links to professional learning communities are provided for educators. There are 65 differentiated lesson plans available to teach students about various aspects of digital citizenship as well as interactive games for students at various grade levels.
- Digital Citizenship.Net: (http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/uploads/FoundAct2.pdf) This pdf file has student lessons related to digital citizenship. Lessons include: Digital Compass which is designed to make students more aware of their technology use through analysis and discussion of various scenarios that are presented and evaluating them using the Digital Compass as being right or wrong uses; Digital Driver’s License which is designed to teach students the basics of digital citizenship which cumulates with student assessments. The goal of this activity is to show students that the use of technology is not a right it is a privilege like a driver’s license is. Scoring rubrics for the activities as well as answer sheets are provided.
- InCtrl - Teaching Digital Citizenship: (http://www.teachinctrl.org/) InCtrl provides lessons on such topics as digital citizenship, communication and collaboration, privacy, cyberbullying, media literacy, ethics and copyright, as well as information literacy. The information literacy lessons focus on teaching students how to validate information they find online for trustworthiness as well as how to organize information. Students also learn about their digital rights and how to respect the work of others. The importance of using technology safely and securely is also emphasized. Subject specific ideas are provided regarding how to integrate lessons on digital citizenship into the curriculum. Lesson plans are outlined with materials for teachers and for students. All materials are easily downloadable.